Guess who gave a talk today in Zone Conference? Yours truly. The theme of our conference was Being True Disciples of Christ. Elder and Sister Tiecheira our Area 70 had wonderful talks. Sister Tiecheira said we should try to walk in Christ's footsteps. Try to think, act and become a true disciple. She quoted from Chapter 4 in "Preach My Gospel" that tells about being set apart when we are called as a missionary. Those blessings are to be taken literally. We are being set apart from the world. Blessings that we are promised are all conditional on our worthiness. I thought about that. If I want to be in better health, I have to be worthy of that blessing. What have I been eating? She said she use to be a math teacher and everything she sees, she looks at it as an equation. Prayer X Authority = Spiritual Power. Do not look at our mission assignments as a job or a business. BE worthy of our callings. Live the commandments, love the people and that will bring us spiritual power.
Elder Tiecheira started out with a story about his grandmother who had lost her hearing as she became older. She gradually began to talk less and kept to herself alot. One day he asked her why she spent so much time alone? Her answer, "I think". She was thinking of all of her memories. He said we will be in that position some day, with only memories as our constant companion. Will our memories be good ones filled with happiness or will they be ones of remorse?
When he was 17, he joined the church and at 19 he knew he should go on a mission. He was sent to the Southern most part of Portugal, his native country. He became companions with an elder who was the Zone Leader and had 3 months before going home. He learned how to be a leader from him. He never lectured but always taught by example. I still remember lessons he taught me. We must develop and cultivate the 5 qualities needed to be a good leader: 1. Prepare spiritually, 2. Work with and serve others 3. Minister to others, find people you can help 4. Teach the gospel by word and deed. 5. Administer our Priesthood responsibilities. The church needs more leaders today.
Our third speaker was Sister Silka Langer. She works for the church in the Area office. She lived in East Germany during the Russian Occupation. Her family were 5th generation LDS. Her Great Great Grandmother also lived in Dresden and they immediately joined the church in 1889 after hearing the gospel message. When her daughter was a teenager she decided she did not want to go to church anymore. She was heartbroken and so she wrote her a letter telling her of her own conversion and letting her know how much the church meant to her. Her daughter decided to go to MIA one day and from that time on she began her activity again. This was Silka's grandmother. Silka was raised in the church. She met her husband when she was 14 and they were married at 18. Her husband had a good paying job but when the Russians took over the East part of Germany he lost his job and by then she was pregnant with her second child. That was a terrible time in her life as the baby came very early and hospitals were not run sufficiently. After giving birth they took the baby and gave it as much help as they could but she was only allowed to see him through a glass. Not ever able to hold him. After 6 months they told her that the baby would need to go to another hospital for treatment. They had no ambulance so they asked if she had a car. They did not but she said yes and she found someone that did. They took the baby home and gave him a Priesthood blessing. After a few days they took him to the next hospital where they kept him another year and a half. Still she could not hold him. After two years they finally gave up and told her to take him home to die. They took him home and he is still alive today. The Prieshood is a miracle, prayer works.
She loved the ward in Dresden, it was a big commercial building and they held dances there, dinners and they all worked on the garden in the backyard. The Russian government never bothered them when they were inside the building because they knew the LDS people never gave them any problems. When you were in your homes or in public, however, you were not allowed to speak about God, religion or have any religious literature. All books were hidden or burned. One day the Stazi picked up her husband and said someone had accused him of burning a Russian flag. He had not, but luckily he had people verify that he was at a church meeting at the time. Others were not so lucky. If they found you guilty of anything they gave you a choice, you can go to prison or help them by being a spy on your friends and family. What a choice, you can imagine what most people chose. They had to survive. She said if there was a line, you would always get in it because hopefully they had food.
Pres. Monson and other church leaders petitioned the East German government many times for couples to be able to go to Switzerland so that they could be married in the Temple. The answer was always no. One day they said, who don't you just build your temple here in Freiburg. That is just what they did after much negotiation. Silka and her husband were the first couple to be married there. A very thought provoking talk.
The fourth talk was given by Sister Tanner. She said, "When we pass to the other side, the Lord will not ask what we did on earth, he will ask, What have we become?" The Do's are activities that should be checked off, but the Be's are never done.
1. Be Grateful but Do express appreciation.
2. Be Smart but Do train your minds.
3. Be Clean but Do treat your bodies respectfully.
4. Be True but Do show loyalty to the church.
5. Be Humble but Do be teachable.
6. Be Prayerful but Do actually look to the Lord.
I was last on the agenda, my talk was on trying to gain perfection. Is that even possible? My answer is yes, the following are my ideas on this subject. Most of my material was taken from Elder Hollands Conference talk entitled " An Ensign To The Nations." He quoted Pres. Harold B. Lee who said, "The gospel is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable."
If we go to Matthew Chapter 5 we find the Sermon on the Mount. Christ starts out very simply blessing the meek, pure in heart, peacemakers and the poor in spirit. He gives us hope and it makes our heart warm. But he does not stop there, he uses comparisons to help us realize that he expects something from his servants. "Ye are the salt of the earth, if it has lost its savor, it is good for nothing? I wanted to know the meaning of salt and why it was so important. It referred me to Leviticus 2:13. I learned that in ancient times salt had to be put on all meat offerings. It signified the covenants that the people were to be keeping if they wanted to make an offering. If you didn't keep your covenants, your offering was good for nothing. It is all about the covenants we keep, in Baptism, in the temple. We need to see that we keep those covenants. The second comparison was, "Ye are the light of the world". We must not hide our light or our talents under a bushel. We must, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Of course we must share our talents, our time, our money, everything the Lord has given us to the building up of the Kingdom of God.
At the very end of the Sermon he tells us what is expected of us, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Elder Nelson put it this way, "We all need to remember, men are that they might have joy, not guilt trips. We also need to remember that the Lord gives no commandments that are impossible to obey. Sometimes we fail to comprehend them fully. Perfection can be classified into two catagories. Mortal perfection and Immortal perfection. I want to note that when Christ was in the Mortal state he said be perfect like our Father in Heaven is Perfect. He did not include himself in that perfect catagory of his father when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect". Now fast foreward about a year when he has already been resurrected and he is speaking to the Nephites. He gives almost the same sermon, however, when he makes that same statement to them he now includes himself, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as I and your Heavenly Father is perfect. Clearly there are two forms of perfection.
Lets talk about Mortal perfection. Was Enoch and his City perfect? The Lord seemed to think so as they were translated and taken up off of this wicked earth. They were of one heart, one mind and had no poor among them. Basically they were living the Law of Consecration. We can try to be perfect a little at a time. We can be perfect in somethings such as the law of tithing, keeping the Sabbath Holy, being punctual, going to seminary, reading our scriptures daily. Make a list of things you feel a person would need to be doing to become perfect. Take it one point at a time. It can be attained. Your calling and election can be made sure.
All blessings promised to his children come with a price. The price being the straight and narrow path that we must follow. Where much is given, much is expected. As we become his disciples, the path becomes more and more narrow . Elder Holland states, "Clearly anyone who thinks Jesus taught a no fault theology did not read the fine print in the contract. In matters of discipleship, the church is not a fast food outlet, we can't always have it our way. Some day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ and salvation can only come his way.'
We had a wonderful lunch and socialized with the other couples. We are losing the following couples as they are going home. Blake, Colton, Cutler, Halliday, Hermann, Jenson, McNamara, Tanner, Taylor, Whidden, Morrill, Ence, Gerratt, & Lyklins. This is a sad day for us. We have grown to love all of these people. Missions are wonderful places to make eternal friends.
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